The
monsoons had turned out to be painful for Bhikhu. At the start of the
monsoons, the heist at Baikuntha Sahaís house in Basantapur had gone dreadfully
wrong. His whole gang had been captured. Of the eleven members, only Bhikhu
managed to escape, but not before being wounded in the shoulder by a spear.
He travelled ten miles overnight to the Mathabhanga Bridge. During the
day, he hid out in the mangroves, half-submerged in mud. That night he
did another twenty miles on foot to Pehlad Bagdiís home in Chitalpur.

Pehlad
flatly refused him shelter. Instead, he pointed at the shoulder and said,
"Ugly wound, partner. Sure to turn septic. Itíll swell up. Canít keep
all that a secret for long, eh? If only you hadnít killedÖ"

"Feel
like killing you right now, Pehlad."

"Not
in this lifetime, partner."

There
was a forest nearby, about five miles north. Thatís where Bhikhu was forced
to hole up. Pehlad cut down some bamboo stalks and rigged up a machaan1
for him in the dense sinjuri bushes. He also put together a makeshift
canopy of palm leaves and said, "The rains have driven the tigers up into
the hills. Should have a nice, relaxed stay here, Bhikhu. If the snakes
keep away, that is."

"What
about food?"

"Didnít
I give you some chira2 and jaggery? Iíll bring you some rice in
a couple of days; if I come here too often, people could get suspicious."

Pehlad
bandaged up the wound with leaves and herbs and promised to return as
soon as he could. The fever hit Bhikhu that night. The next morning, he
realised that Pehlad had been right. The wound had become infected. His
right arm was badly swollen and totally immobile.

In
a forest that even tigers fled during the monsoons, Bhikhu managed to
survive two days and two nights on that narrow platform; feverish and
in pain, braving the downpour, mosquitoes and bugs, pulling off leeches
from some part of his body every hour. He was drenched to the skin when
the rain swept in, left wheezing during the stifling, sultry day, driven
mad by creepy-crawlies. The bidis that Pehlad had left behind were
gone. The chira would last another two or three days, but there
was no more jaggery. The red ants that had come for it in hordes were
sorely disappointed and took it out on Bhikhu.

Damn
Pehlad to hell, thought Bhikhu as he battled for life. On the morning
that Pehlad was supposed to return, Bhikhu ran out of drinking water.
He waited till evening for Pehlad. Unable to bear the terrible thirst
any more, he climbed down to the nearby creek, filled half the pot and
climbed back onto the platform, in indescribable pain. Hunger drove him
to chew on the dry chira. With his one good hand, he kept squashing
the ants and other insects. He applied some leeches around his wound,
hoping they would draw out the infected blood. He saw a green snake peering
through the sinjuri leaves above his head and waited a full two
hours, staring at that point with his lathi3 in hand. He beat the
undergrowth with the stick every hour to drive snakes away.

He
wasnít going to die. He was definitely not going to die. Wild animals
would have found it impossible to survive in those conditions, but he
would cheat death.

Pehlad
had gone to another village for a wedding in the family, had passed out
on the toddy they served there and didnít return even the next day. In
fact, for three days, he was in no shape to reflect on how Bhikhu was
surviving in the forest.

Meanwhile,
Bhikhuís festering wound was oozing bloody pus. His body was bloated.
The fever had subsided, but the excruciating pain in his body enveloped
his senses like an intoxicant. He was no longer affected by hunger or
thirst. He was unaware of the leeches gorging on his blood until they
dropped off. His foot knocked the water pot off the platform and it broke.
His chira, sodden with rainwater, rotted in its sack. Jackals,
attracted by the foul smell of his gangrenous wound, circled the machaan
in the dark.

Pehlad
returned from his relativesí in the afternoon, went to see Bhikhu and
gravely shook his head. He had brought a bowl of rice, fried fish and
vegetables for Bhikhu. He sat with the sick man until late in the evening,
and then finished the food himself. He went back home and returned with
a small ladder and his brother-in-law Bharat.

Using
the ladder as a stretcher, the two of them carried Bhikhu back to Pehladís
house. They put him on a pallet of straw up in the loft.

And
Bhikhuís life force was so strong that in spite of this modest shelter
and the total lack of medical care, he triumphed over death. But he lost
the use of his right arm. He could barely move it at first and soon it
shrivelled up like a dead branch, completely useless.

With
his wound almost healed, Bhikhu sometimes climbed down from the loft,
using only one hand, when he was sure there was no one around. Then, one
evening, he did something extreme.

Pehlad
wasnít home. He had gone off with Bharat to drink toddy. Pehladís sister
had gone down to the river. His wife went into the room to put her child
to bed. She saw the look in Bhikhuís eye and tried to get out as quickly
as possible. Bhikhu grabbed her arm.

But
Pehladís wife was a daughter of the Bagdi. It wasnít easy to pin her down
with only one good arm and a feeble body. She jerked her arm away and
left the room, screaming insults. When Pehlad returned home, she told
him everything.

His
brain clouded by toddy fumes, Pehladís immediate reaction was to blow
away the double-crossing devil. Whacking his wife with his stout bamboo
stick, he stormed off to split open Bhikhuís head. But even in his inebriated
state, he realised soon enough that although it was his momentous responsibility
to do so, it might not be entirely possible. Bhikhu was standing ready
with a razor-sharp chopper gripped firmly in his left hand. So instead
of lethal blows, they exchanged some well-chosen invective. At the end
of which Pehlad said, "I had to spend seven rupees on you ó give my money
back and get the hell out of my house ó scram!"

"Youíd
better return my armlet, Pehlad! Or I promise Iíll slash your throat wide
open like I did with the second of the Saha brothers. Iíll leave when
I get my armlet."

Of
course, Bhikhu never did get his armlet back. In the middle of the commotion,
Bharat landed up and the two overpowered Bhikhu. All that a weak and crippled
Bhikhu could manage was a bite on Pehladís arm. Pehlad and his brother-in-law
thrashed Bhikhu to within an inch of his life. His wound opened up again.
He wiped off the blood with his palms and staggered off. Although no one
could figure out where exactly he disappeared to under cover of the darkness,
the neighbourhood woke up in alarm at midnight to find Pehladís house
on fire.

"DisasterÖ
total disaster! The evil Shani4 had come to my house," cried Pehlad, slapping
his forehead. But to avoid the attentions of the police, he couldnít reveal
Bhikhuís name.

That
night, Bhikhuís primal, barbaric existence moved into its second phase.
There is a river beside Chitalpur. After setting Pehladís house on fire,
Bhikhu had stolen a fishing boat and floated down the river. Too weak
to row, he had just about managed to steer, using a piece of flattened
bamboo for a rudder. By morning, he hadnít been able to get very far.

Bhikhu
was afraid that having lost his home, a vengeful Pehlad would disclose
all to the police without a thought for the consequences. The police had
been after him for quite some time now and after the murder at Baikuntha
Sahaís place, they had doubled their efforts. To show up anywhere within
thirty miles was a huge risk. But Bhikhu was desperate. He hadnít eaten
anything since the previous evening. He was weak and his aching body was
still stiff from the beating. He docked his boat at a sub-divisional town
at dawn. He washed away the blood in the river and then went into town.
Hunger was driving him crazy. He couldnít even buy some muri5 ó
he had no money. He stopped the first person he saw on the road to the
market. "A couple of paisas, sir?" he begged.

The
gentleman saw his dusty unkempt hair, tattered and muddy loincloth, and
a withered arm dangling like a rope. He felt sorry for Bhikhu and gave
him a coin.

For
a fleeting moment, Bhikhu was on the verge of hurling his choicest expletive
at the man. But he checked himself. Instead, he gave the gentleman a menacing
look, bought himself some muri from the grocer and gobbled it down.